Tide-motor



J. eywmem.

, TIDE MOIOB.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-27. wev

1,304,238. Patented May 20, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I Judson E1. Wrighi'. p 41.66.63 mum/w J. E. WRIGHT TIDEMOTOR.

APPLICATION mm 020.21. ma.

1,304,238; Patented May 20, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Q'Mdson E. Wright.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JUDSON E. WRIGHT, OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TOCHARLES FREY, OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

TIDEMOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 20, 1919.

Application filed December 27, 1916. I Serial No.139,111.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jonson E. WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTide-Motors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a motor to be used for developing power from therise and fall of the tide, and the objects of my invention are, first,to provide a motor of this class with means for storin energy by whichpower will be produce during the time there is none or but slightmovement of the tide; second, to provide a motor of this class in whichpower will be produced by the revolving of a shaft in one direction asthe tide moves either up or down; third, to provide a motor of thisclass in which one or a large number of units may be used in connectionwith each other or singly for driving a power shaft; fourth, to providea motor of this class in which the force of gravity is utilized forproducing the power when the tide is practically at a stand still and,fifth, to provide a motor of this class which is simple and economicalof construction, durable, easy to operate, continuous in its action, andwill not readily deteriorate or get out of order.

With these and other objects in view as will appear hereinafter, myinvention consists of certain novel features of construction,combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter described indetail and particularly set forth in the appended claims, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings and to the characters ofreference thereon which form a part of this specification in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device for producing power when thetide is active and showing one form of means for storing energy foroperating the power shaft when the tide is inactive, all shown inconnection with a fragmentary portion of a wharf or supportingstructure. Fig. 2 is a detailed perspective view of the guide meansuponwhich the gear racks are shifted. Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofthe gravity actuated means for operating the power shaft when the tideis inactive from the energy stored while the tide is active. Fig. 4 is amodified form of structure used for storing 1 energy while the tideisactive to be used by the structure shown in 3 for revolv mg the powershaft when the tide is inactive or nearly so, and Fig. 5 is afragmentary ,7, shaft 8, shaft 9, gear 10, gear 11, sheave 12, sheave13, shaft 14, conveyer 15, spheres 16, wheel 17, sprocket 18, sprocket19, gear 20 and gear 21 constitute the principal parts of my motor. Thewharf is preferably composed of three floors 1, 1 and 1 placed one abovethe other and preferably supported by means of transverse beams 1 andpiles 1 Beneath the floor 1 and between the piles is a very large float2 of suitable weight floating in the water, and it is held in itsposition by means of guides 2 but permitting it to rise and lower withthe rise and fall of the water with the varying tides. Secured to thetopof thisfloat are a plurality of pairs of guide members 2 as shown bestin Fig. 2 of the drawings and secured to eachpair of guide members 2 isa pair or gear-racks 3 and 4 which are vertically positioned andsupported upon said float and held in certain spaced relation to eachother by means of cross bars 3 and 3 so that the gear 5, with which theteeth of the racks are adapted to engage, will only engage with one rackat a time, said racks being shifted sidewise so that the rack 3 engageswith one side of the gear when the tide is rising, and the rack 4engages with the other side of the gear when the tide is falling, andfor shifting said racks I have provided a shifting device 6, mounted onthe floor 1 and adapted to be shifted longitudinally thereon providedwith rollers 6 adapted to engage the outer edges of the racks 3 and 4for reducing the friction between said shifting device and said gearracks. This shiftingdevice 6 is also provided with a lever 6 fpivotallymounted on the floor 1 at 6, and said lever is pivotally mounted on theshifting device at 6 so that when said lever is thrown over it shiftsand holds said shifting device 6 in a certain shifted position placingone of the racks 3, 4 in engagement with the gear 5. The gear 5 ismounted upon the shaft 8 and is re \olved by said racks 3 or 4.- ashereinbefore described and rigidly secured to this shaft are a pluralityof sprockets 7. In this case I have shown three, but there may be moreor less as desired for forming a unit, and there may be as many units asdesired. This shaft 8 is supported 011 the floor 1 by means of thebearing 8". Mounted on the same floor and spaced from said shaft 8 isanother shaft 9 mounted on a bearin 9. On this shaft are a plurality ofsprocfiets 9 in line with the sprockets 7, and said sprockets 9 and 7are connected by means of the chains 7 and mounted on this same shaft 9is a large gear 10 which engages another Smaller gear 11 mounted on theshaft 11 and mounted on this shaft is a sheave 13 which is provided witha belt 13 for eX- tending to any driven mechanism it is desired to driveby the motor; The objects of the gears 10 and 11 are to provide greaterspeed to the shaft 1P, the size of the gears being made suitable todrive the driven mechanism as desired. Mounted on this shaft 11 is alsoa sheave 12 which is provided with a belt 12 which engages a sheave 145*mounted on a shaft 14 on the floor 1 of the wharf. Mounted on this shaft14 is also a sheave 15 for the conveyer 15 which is an ordinary endlessbucket and belt conveyer which is supported on a sheave l5 on the upperfloor 1 of the wharf. In connection with the lower end of the conveyer15 is a track 16 adapted as a guide for the spheres 16 which is slightlyinclined, adapted to roll the spheres 16 into the buckets which carrythem up to the floor 1 and there release them upon a similar track 16which is also inclined, ada ted to carry the spheres to the wheel 17 ont is same floor where they gravitate into the pockets 17 a in the wheel17 and thereby revolve said wheel 17 and are emptied from the pockets onthe floor 1 on to the inclined track 16 from whence they gravitate tothe conveyer 15. It will be here noted, however, that when the tide issufficiently active to produce power in addition to the raising of thespheres 16 to the floor 1 that the spheres 16 are carried by theconveyer 16, and the wheel 17 revolves, and that the wheel 17 is onlyused for producing power when the tide is inactive or nearly so. It willalso be here noted that the wheel 17 is only one unit of which there maybe a plurality as desired for producing the proper amount of power. Thiswheel 17 is mounted on a shaft 17 a j ournaled in a bearing 17 on thefloor 1 and mounted on this same shaft 17 is a sprocket 18 provided witha chain which extends to another sprocket 19 secured to a shaft 19 whichis journaled in bearings 19 a suitable distance from the bearing 17 andmounted on this same shaft 19 is a large gear 20 which engages a gear 21which is mounted on ashaft 21 and upon this shaft 21 is secured a sheave21 provided with a belt which extends to the driven mechanism asdesired. It will thus be noted that the mechanism shown in Fig. 3 of thedrawings and just described is an auxiliary mechanism for operating thedriven mechanism by means of the spheres 16 stored on the floor 1 whilethe tide is active for use for power when the tide is inactive. In Fig.4: of the drawings 1 have shown a modified form of structure for raisingthe spheres from the floor 1 to the floor 1 from the conveyer 15 shownin Fig. 1 of the drawings, the float, wharf, rack, gear 5, spheres andsphere tracks being the same as is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, andthe wheels 17 mounted on the shaft 8 are the same as the wheels 17 shownin Fig. 3 of the drawings. The spheres 16 are raised from the fioor 1 tothe floor 1 by gravitating into the pockets of wheel 17 and are carriedupward by the operation of the floats 2 operating the shaft 8 ashereinbefore described. It will be here noted that the racks 3 and 4 areshifted manually, and that the spheres are controlled in their tracksmanually for pro-- ducing proper and continuous power to the drivenmechanism at all times as required by the variations of the activity ofthe tide. In order to hold the wheels 17 and sprocket 7 when not in useI have provided pawls 22 to be manually operated for holding the butdesire to include in the purview of my invention the construction,combination and arrangement substantially as set forth in the appendedclaims.

It is obvious that with this construction there is provided a tide motorwhich will produce power to be utilized by a driven mechanism while thetide is active, either rising or falling, that there is provided anauxiliary for providing power to this driven mechanism while the tide isinactive, that a sufficient quantity of spheres may be stored on thefloor 1 to operate the driven mechanism for a considerable length oftime during inactivity of the tide or for repair of the generalmechanism which may be utilized for producing power as described, thatthere may be as many units of the general mechanism as is required toproduce the required power.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tide motor, a wharf comprising three floors spaced apart oneabove another, a float adapted to rise and fall with the water belowsaid wharf, a plurality of vertical guides for preventing side movementof said float, a plurality of pairs of gear rack members each pairshiftably connected to said float at their lower ends, a gear revolublymounted between said rack members on the middle floor of said wharf,means for facilitating the manual shifting of said rack members wherebythe opposite members are engaged by said gear, a plurality of wheelsmounted on the shaft provided with a plurality of pockets in their outeredge, a track for each wheel for guiding balls to the pockets in saidwheel on the lower floor of said wharf, a track on the upper floor foreach wheel for guiding the balls from the pockets of said wheels, aplurality of other wheels revolubly mounted 'on the second floor of saidwharf adapted to receive the balls from the tracks in the upper floorwhereby said Wheels are turned by the weight of said balls for producingpower in their descent to the lower floor.

2. In a tide motor, a wharf comprising three floors spaced apart oneabove another, a float adapted to rise and fall with the water undersaid wharf, a plurality of wheels revolubly mounted on the second floorof said wharf provided with a plurality of pockets in their outer edges,means connecting said float with each of said wheels for revolving saidwheels with the rise and fall of said float in the water, a track foreach wheel for guiding balls to the pockets in said wheel on the lowerfloor of said wharf and a track on the upper floor for each wheel forguiding the balls from the pockets of said wheel, a plurality of otherwheels revolubly mounted on the second floor of said wharf adapted toreceive the balls from the tracks in the upper floor whereby said wheelsare turned by the weight of said balls for producing power in theirdescent to the lower floor.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set m hand at San Diego,California, this 16th ay of December 1916.

JUDSON E. WRIGHT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Iatents, Washington, D. G."

